


Started With a Hat

by Geoffryhawk



Category: Warframe
Genre: Other, umbral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22438981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geoffryhawk/pseuds/Geoffryhawk
Summary: A strange gift from Darvo leads to a unique and tragic discovery.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Started With a Hat

By chance Herh in his Limbo frame was at the relay, he’d finished a job helping Clem and he chatted briefly with Darvo about the deals and going ons. He was finished up with business when Darvo spoke up about something.

“Hey Tenno, actually, I have something; maybe you like it, huh? I make you a good deal on it, free cause no one wants it anyway. Haha,” he said and produced something from a locker behind him. “Fresh found, from uh the moon, haha; don’t tell anyone I had it, cause maybe it was Corpus and they don’t want it given away. Heh. Anyway, looks like it’d be good for you. It’s thanks from Clem for you always helping us out. Right Clem?”

“Clem!” agreed Clem.

“Yeah see? Hey so thanks.”

“Thanks, I guess, and you’re welcome?” Herh said curiously, as Darvo put a rather large box in his hands. “I’m sure I’ll see you two again soon. Have a good day, Darvo; Clem.” He looked over the box as he walked away from the pair. What could this possibly be?

It wasn’t long before he was back aboard the lander, setting the box in his personal quarters and leaving his Frame off to the side. Herh was beyond intrigued, he stepped through the door and swept the box up as he moved to the couch. He slipped his fingers over the latch and flipped it open, the contents revealed as the lid moved. Oh? A raised brow and he put hands inside, slowly easing the artifact out. It looked clean, pristine even, bedecked in gold along the brim and colored a wonderful creamy white. A hat, that is what it was, a bespoke gentleman’s cap. Herh couldn’t help a giggle that fell out of him, what a strange thing to find. 

“Ordis, look at this, what Darvo has given me,” he mused as he set it on his head, it was far too large of course.

“Operator...I do not think that fits your head.”

“No, certainly doesn’t, but isn’t this charming? I don’t believe it was made for me. Really, I think I know a warframe who’d wear it just fine…” Herh glanced over at the Frame standing still at attention. He stood up with it, and wandered over to the warframe; reaching up to replace the hat it already wore, something fell loose. He tilted his head, and knelt down to pick up the bit of paper. Setting the hat on Limbo’s head as he opened the folded remnant, seemed to be a note.

_To my dearest, the cleverest Riftwalker I’ve ever known. May this be half as clever as you, my friend ever in Limbo. - Yours Eternally._

Friend ever in Limbo? Like the warframe? How sweet, so then perhaps this hat was indeed meant for someone. It fit the warframe so perfectly, that it seemed like fate. Hm, made him curious about that theorem, the original; his thoughts often wandered there. Something felt off about it, they had found the end, but it didn’t feel like it. So, he supposed he’d have Ordis run it again.

“Ordis, bring up the Limbo Theorem again, specifically the last bit,” he asked as he settled back onto the couch, pulling his feet up and leaning on the arm.

“Are you sure? Such a sad ending,” Ordis asked as he did as requested. “What are you looking for Operator?”

“Limbo.” Herh meandered through the layers of odds and ends, variables petering off into nonsense, and equations leading to dead ends. It was all very much in line with the riftwalking frame, clever and foolish at the same time. Though something stood out now to him. “Ordis, this variable...I think you’ve interpreted it wrong, this isn’t the symbol for the rift constant, it’s the Orokin symbol for Void?” He raised a brow.

“Really? Let me run this again then, oh how exciting. The Operator truly is-a PaIn- Clever.” For a moment Ordis’ voice disappeared as he mulled over the computation. The moment later he returned. “Oh, just like the clever devil, it’s a set of coordinates that both exist and do not, Lua, but not.”

Herh listened to Ordis go on and hummed, Lua; where the Reservoir was. Where all the sleeping Tenno that remained, lingered. Why would Limbo be going there, through the rift to the void? Was he trying to reach the Moon? Did he know what was on it? He...it, the Limbo frame was just a vessel, not a person.

“Lua, whatever was it doing trying to get there?” he mused, and glanced back again at his warframe with the hat on. How dashing, this whole thing had really pique his interest again in the chase for Limbo. “I wonder if we follow this new trail will we find the frame in earnest? The real Limbo?”

“That would be highly unlikely Operator, this kind of jump is impossible, surely it’s long gone.” Ordis piped up.

“No reason not to check it out though, is there? Take us there to Lua, lets see what these coordinates look like at the very least.” He reunited with his warframe and stepped out of his quarters.

Lua came quickly, the moon now exposed, it was swarming with the enemy on all sides. Corpus and Grineer with their hands all over it’s surface. The Limbo frame leaped down from the Lander and rolled his shoulders, rifle held across his chest. Lua, he only had fleeting memories of this place, it was all still so vague. He wondered what connection their wayward warframe had to it, they weren’t too far from the Reservoir so perhaps this Limbo had taken the same path as the Lotus had led Herh on. Self-discovery, a secret that shouldn’t be known.

“How far off am I?” he inquired of Ordis.

“A few hundred meters, sadly I couldn’t get the Operator any closer, as much of the area is enclosed.”

“Perfectly alright Ordis, I understand. Highlight it on my HUD?”

“Done! Please be safe.”

“As if I’m ever not, Ordis.”

Herh started on his way, a quick sprint was all it took to reach the spot. Immediately upon observation he could tell something wasn’t right. A perfectly symmetrical circle of the rubble was missing, like it has simply been cut out of the world. He hummed, and as he stepped within the circle he felt it, the Rift. Interesting. This was certainly the place, but if there was still the sense of Rift, where was the Limbo? From space to void, the impossible leap for the Riftwalker. But why did he want to make this jump? Herh wondered.

“Ordis, I’ve arrived at the site, and I can feel Rift energies. Relay the theorem to me, I’ve had an idea,” Herh requested as he examined the sheer cut in the stone.

“Relaying now, what are you hoping to use it for Operator?”

“I’m planning on making the leap, myself, but I need the solved equation to do so, our Limbo might still be holding a piece of Lua in the Void and I’d like to know why.”

“Make the jump but Operator that’s-SuiCIde- very dangerous! What if you get stuck like this other warframe?” Ordis asked with hesitation in his tone.

“Well, if our solved equation is correct there is a way back, but perhaps this other Tenno didn’t have it quite solved like we do,” Herh said and gathered rift energy around him, this would be a helluva jump, and leave him with little left to return. “Ordis, if I don’t come back make sure to scatter my story across at least 4 planets.”

“HaaHA- Operator that isn’t funny! Please return safely…”

The theorem locked in there was only one thing left to do, the rift surge crackled around him, pulling him past the edge of normal space. He felt the very bones of his frame rattling as they punched through the barrier, and stumbled forward into the unknown. Had he made it? Looking around curiously he noted the odd quiet; there was a swirling energy all around in a tight circle. This was a cataclysm bubble, so then that meant their query was indeed still here.

“Ordis?” he tried, but all that he could hear was static, right made sense. A localized bubble of the Void likely wouldn’t allow communication outside of it. Finally he took a real look around, seeing a hunched figure at the center of the bubble, the Warframe. Limbo; though, a much more impressive version.

A few cautious steps towards it, and then it moved, Herh could feel it looking at him though...not like the way a Tenno might. He couldn’t explain it, but there was something off. The frame was cradling something in its arms, Herh couldn’t get a good look at it, so he moved in closer. This was a mistake, the Limbo held up it’s hand and a surge of rift energy threatened to toss Herh back. He set his feet, and bore it till the wave subsided.

“I’m not here to hurt you, I followed your clues, you’ve been here a long time haven’t you? But why?” he asked and tried to see what the frame was holding again, now that it had moved. Still impossible to see, he jumped from his frame and cautiously made his way over. The tenno seemed to hesitate to further attack him, good he could use that opening. “I’m Tenno too, see? You don’t have to fear me, I came to save you.” He received nothing in response, but the frame tilted it’s head. Seemed to be missing something, ah right, the hat that the corpus had found on Lua. Herh glanced at his inanimate frame and nodded, holding up a hand as if to tell the frame to wait a moment. “I found something of yours.”

Herh pulled the hat off his frame’s head and started back over, holding it out as an offering to perhaps quell the wary Tenno. “It is yours isn’t it? Looks like it should match quite well. How did you get here? Why did you come here?”

Still nothing in response. Herh was getting concerned, he got down onto one knee in front of the warframe and tried to look at what it was holding. “What have you got there?” he asked softly. Finally he could see it, the small figure, and his eyes widened in confusion. A Tenno; but, there was no movement from the body. This Frame was clutching a corpse, but what then gave the Limbo life? Herh furrowed his brow. “Is...is this your operator?”

He wasn’t sure what to do, Herh was worried something more horrible might have happened, what if this was some self-imposed transference loop like with Rell? He took a deep breath and reached out for the body, only to have his arm grabbed by the Limbo frame. “Who is controlling you?” Herh asked, he had to know and initiated a transference link of his own. Immediately their was feedback, a memory.

 _Please...I don’t know where I am, he’s coming, I can hear him...I can’t breath, he’s watching me…_ The wails of a young voice, fear, so much fear racing through and then suddenly everything was cut off.

_Operator? Lotus...Something has….Int….feed_

_Please...save me, Limbo. Please._

Stumbling, waking up, and pain. Confusion, looking at his hands, feeling his face and shuddering. So much pain, no way to scream. He needed to find something, Operator, needed to find them. Steps became firm and he was kneeling before the navigation, poking and prodding through the system, weak spots in the fabric of space.

 _Operator is that you? I don’t sense any Transference energy, how? Operator answer me._ A ship cephalon, unimportant. The vessel moved place to place, a single track mind driven onwards.

Vague memories from before the Tenno, before the disease had twisted him into this creature, agony. Half remembered Theorems, and concepts. Where once there was a Moon, he had it correct, he must have it correct. The Cephalon objected but he had to move, the impossible jump, space to void. Success.

_He’s here, please I’m alone...he sees me...he’s going to get me…_

Then the Reservoir before him, the pod opened, and carefully oh so gently, arms lifted the frail figure up. “Limbo?”

Herh lost the connection and pulled his arm away. “You…” he hissed and shook his head. “But the Theorem wasn’t complete, there was no way to get back but you…” He panted and looked around. “This bubble, you were trying to protect them, but…” He looked to the lifeless figure in the Frame’s arms. “Who was coming? Who is ‘He’ that they were so afraid of?”

Of course, there was no answer, there couldn’t be. The Frame couldn’t speak, the transformation had ensured that, just like with Umbra; and that made Herh shudder. Herh looked at his own hands, still shaking. “Limbo, your operator isn’t here anymore.” He took a deep breath and set his hand on the Frame’s chest. The feedback continued, the memory that was driving this creature forward, to continue fighting against the Void without.

The Frame struggled against the void, to get back to normal space, moving between rift and void desperate to find some workaround to escape. Something was wrong, a loose variable was preventing his escape. Or something was holding him here. The corrupted creatures that lingered here, hunted his steps, but there was nothing left in any magazine. The weight in his arms had grown less and less active. Till eventually he felt nothing there at all. They had to escape. One final try, gathering energy, a final bang; but all that had come of it was being trapped, between the Void and Space, the thin membrane an insurmountable barrier.

_They’re nothing without me...their puppets even less._

That voice. Herh pulled back again and shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Limbo, you tried everything, you did your best;” he said softly. “They weren’t supposed to wake like that, you tried to save them. You’re still trying to, but they’re gone.” He looked over the hat in his other hand and sighed. “You are going to have to move on, there’s nothing more for you here.” Herh reached up to set the hat back on the Warframe’s head, and then sat back down. “We figured it out, your theorem, we can go back now; I can make that pain go away, I can help you move on.”

The Warframe reached its hand up to feel the brim of his headgear, before looking down at the limp form in its arms. Nothing more for it here, after everything he’d done. Herh reached forward and slipped his arms under the Tenno, easing them away from the Warframe. He’d have to tell the Lotus about this, something had woken this poor kid early, something terrifying.

“We won’t let them be forgotten, Limbo, I promise,” Herh said softly, laying the corpse down beside them, and putting their arms across their chest. He settled himself closer to the Warframe. “Let me release you from this torment, from this place.”

The Limbo set it’s hands on it’s lap loosely, and bowed its head. One final Transference link, this one without feedback. The pain, and sorrow washed away, they stood up as one. Herh looked the Frame over, opening and closing his hands. There was still things to settle, but for now the Warframe seemed calmed. He took a deep breath and looked to the Frame he’d brought. There was no way to make the trip back with both. With a new found sadness, Herh began the sequence to leave this collapsing bubble. “I’m sorry old friend, protect them, as he did,” Herh murmured to the inanimate frame, before making the jump.

Aboard the lander Herh rested in his quarters, the last few days had been exhausting, searching for answers that seemed nowhere to be found. He watched the fish moving in the aquarium for a while, his thoughts feeling as aimless as their movements. A foot step caught his attention, he looked over and started a bit to see his Warframe lingering at the door. “Oh...right, hello, Limbo. You don’t have to follow me around the Lander. In fact it’s a bit startling when you sneak up like that,” he said softly. What was he going to do with it? He’d never really known a Warframe to move of its own volition, and this one had separation issues on top of it, he supposed he couldn’t blame it.

Herh shook his head and let his head rest back against the couch. “At least sit down if you’re going to stare at me...it’s uncomfortable having you standing there.” He watched the frame move from the door to the window, kneeling down in front of the glass. That was better, at least a bit. The Tenno let himself doze off, he was exhausted, there was so much he didn’t understand. Tomorrow, perhaps he’d find his answers.


End file.
